This article examines the role networking has played, at local and national levels, in facilitating communication between key actors involved in challenging the marginalisation of disabled people from education and from wider Bangladeshi society. Efforts to promote awareness of the importance of including disabled children in their local schools…

Surveyed independent living centers (N=74) to identify prevalence and functions of support and self-help groups for people with disabilities. Results suggest that independent living center staff refer a significant number of consumers to self-help groups and that independent living centers sponsor a variety of such groups. (Author/ABL)

The author describes a collaborative project involving a textiles and clothing specialist, an occupational therapist, and a wheelchair-bound disabled woman to design and construct an apron that facilitated independence in daily living for the disabled woman. (Author/CH)

Describes a program for families of handicapped children that features educational programs and parent and sibling support groups. Notes that parents and siblings involved in the mutual-help project have uncovered salient issues and have taken an active role in community education and advocacy. (Author/NB)

The author reports an account of the method of self-therapy that he haltingly evolved over the years when faced with sensory disabilities. It presents a personal account of the tortuous routes in the evolution of this method and his confrontation with religion, work, self, middle age, death, others, marriage, and image of old age. The self-therapy…

A job club approach for secondary disabled youth focuses on mastering job seeking skills by behaviorally sequenced steps learned in situational experiences within a self-help group process framework. Students learn to penetrate the hidden job market, to use social networking via the telephone, and to participate successfully in job interviews. (CL)

Reports on a training package that taught four consumers with physical, learning, or psychiatric disabilities how to write advocacy letters. The research design included baseline and training, and posttraining conditions. Results suggest that an action letter training program may enhance advocacy letter writing skills to address specific problems.…

Essential tremor (ET), the most prevalent movement disorder, has a peak prevalence in the sixth decade of life, primarily affecting the hands and head. Persons with ET are often significantly disabled and medical intervention often had limited effectiveness. Describes a biobehavioral rehabilitation model for older adults with ET. (Author/JBJ)

The purpose of this study was to determine what kinds of people are motivated to join a medical self-help group and whether and in what areas of psychological and social functioning such self-help groups have positive benefits for adolescents and their families. Extensive survey questionnaires were sent throughout the United States to all former…

This newsletter presents some insight into the program "Seventy-Six in '76," the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) collegiate minicourse program. This program is one utilizing an audiotutorial, self-paced approach. Information relating to the program's conception, its development, and the product itself is presented. The…

The important role of the self-help approach in helping persons deal with medical, emotional, and practical effects of a sudden disability is considered in a discussion of the work of the Spinal Injuries Association in Britain. Services that can be provided and controlled by disabled persons are described. (Author/CB)

"Parent to Parent" is a telephone-contact self-help group for families of special needs children. Support parents are recruited and trained to provide counseling to other parents. Professionals lead the training course, which focuses on listening, understanding, and action planning. Parents carry out the support group's administrative…

Described is an empowerment and self-advocacy training program for individuals with disabilities and parents of young children with disabilities, called Partners in Policymaking. Discussed are first-year activities, program evaluation data from participants, and both quantitative and qualitative short-term outcome data collected from first-year…

This article considers how liberatory theory (related to critical theory, postmodern thought, and constructivism) can be applied to debates in special education. Liberatory pedagogies encourage oppressed peoples to define for themselves their situations and to define actions that will be liberating. (Author/DB)

The Rural Institute: Center for Excellence in Disability Education, Research, and Service, is one of sixty-four Centers for Excellence in Disability Education across the nation. It is an inter-disciplinary organization that promotes full participation in rural life for individuals with disabilities. The Rural Institute accomplishes this goal by…